By Courtland Milloy

Monday, March 22, 2004; Page B01

There was a time, not long ago, when African Americans were on a march toward freedom, using education, discipline, sacrifice and courage as weapons in a war against racial segregation.

"We were taught that doing well in school was like firing a bullet into the heart of George Wallace and Orval E. Faubus," said Harvard University scholar Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr., 53, referring to the former segregationist governors of Alabama and Arkansas.

But just as victory appeared to be in sight, something went wrong -- something that Gates believes too few black leaders are willing to talk about.

"If Wallace and Faubus had been sitting around in 1963, wondering how to stop the [civil rights movement], and one said, 'We are going to persuade them not to embrace deferred gratification, that education is a white thing, throw in some bling-bling and persuade them that authentic black identity is some kind of thug ghetto anti-education identity,' the other would say, 'Oh, man, nobody is that stupid.' "

Ah, man, if only . . .

Gates, who is chairman of Harvard's African and African American Studies Department, spoke recently at the Aspen Institute in Washington. He was discussing the findings of his latest book, "America Behind the Color Line: Dialogues with African Americans," in which he tries to answer the question: How have black people fared in the 35 years since the death of Martin Luther King Jr.?

Yesterday, I wrote about his call for a new civil rights movement within the black community to address such issues as teen pregnancy, criminal activity and a growing disinterest in education.

In today's follow-up, Gates expresses the need for black leaders to boldly critique self-destructive behavior among black people and the urgent need for the "talented tenth" -- meaning college-educated blacks -- to become more a part of the solution.

The concept is not new. As King often said, "It is not a sign of weakness, but a sign of high maturity, to rise to the level of self-criticism . . . [which means] critical thinking about ourselves as a people and the course we have charted or failed to chart during this period."

Since King's death in 1968, one course has led to a tripling of the black middle class and a fast getaway by black role models to the suburbs; the other has led nowhere -- about 40 percent of black children are living in poverty, the same as in 1968, with many in households headed by single women who became pregnant as teens.

"Our leaders need the courage to stand up and say -- behind closed doors and in public -- that we have internalized our own oppression, that we are engaging in forms of behavior that are destroying our people," Gates said. "Too many of our leaders won't stand up because they are afraid of being appropriated by the right, or afraid they are going to sound like Clarence."

The reference was to Justice Clarence Thomas, the only black justice on the Supreme Court and an ardent opponent of affirmative action. Gates made sure there was no confusing his views with those held by Thomas.

Gates, a native of Piedmont, W.Va., entered Yale University in 1969 as part of what he calls "the affirmative action generation." He graduated in 1973 and later earned a doctorate in English from Cambridge University before coming to Harvard.

"For me not to defend affirmative action, as someone who has benefited so much from it, would make me as big a hypocrite as Mr. Justice Clarence Thomas, and I just couldn't live with myself," he said.

Gates stressed that some problems will not be solved without structural changes in the economy -- such as a federal jobs program -- but that black people must be prepared to take them.

Education would be the key.

"Our great tradition of literacy is being lost by too big of a segment of the African American community, and we can't wait on school reform," Gates said. "We need to start our own after-school programs. Why can't we turn black organizations like Jack and Jill into Afro-American history schools, instead of [snooty] Sididdy School 101? Why can't black fraternities and sororities pool their resources to start after-school programs?"

Wednesday: From chaos to community.